By Canadian Press

B.C. teenager pushed back against online extortionist, Crown attorney tells jury

Jul 27, 2022 | 12:22 PM

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — A Crown attorney says British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd pushed back against the person harassing and extorting her online, sending them a message saying she hoped they felt guilty for “ruining a young girl’s life.”

Kristen LeNoble says Todd also made a post on Facebook, asking people she was connected with to support her, and not judge her, as she feared her harasser was about to distribute a link depicting her in a sexual manner.

LeNoble told the jury in the B.C. Supreme Court trial for Aydin Coban, the Dutch man accused extorting Todd, that the person had been threatening to distribute links to her family, friends and classmates unless she performed three sexual “shows” on a web camera.

Coban has pleaded not guilty to extortion, harassment, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offence and possessing child pornography.

LeNoble told the jury one of the numerous aliases used to harass and extort Todd told her she had until the end of the day “until all hell breaks loose.”

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She says another Facebook post by Todd shows the teenager from Port Coquitlam, B.C., was worried the harassment would continue for the rest of her life.

“This is such a horrible feeling for me,” she read from one of Todd’s Facebook posts.

The extortion began just before Todd turned 13 in November 2009, LeNoble said.

Crown prosecutor Louise Kenworthy told the jury at the start of the trial almost two months ago that Todd had been the victim of a persistent campaign of online “sextortion” over three years before her death at age 15 in October 2012.

LeNoble told the jury on Tuesday that by the time the Crown has finished their closing argument, they will have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Coban was the person behind 22 separate online aliases used to harass and extort the teenager.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2022.

The Canadian Press